MESS Space Agency
The MESS Space Agency (MSA) is an intergovernmental organization that utilizes resources provided by member organizations for the purpose of directing manned and unmanned exploration in space. In practice the MSA operates most of the civilian manned spaceflight programs under central authority and not under the aegis of local components while the daughter agencies, paticularly those not affiliated with the MESS itself, engage in additional unmanned activities. The principal headquarters for the Agency is in the Shinra Republic at Johnson Spaceflight Center with subsidiary sites throughout the world. History Early Formation The MSA was formally organized by agreement between the Royal Sapce Agency and the Canissian Royal Space Agency in 1981. While the organization was not yet known as the MSA, being at the time a joint venture in astronomical observation by the two agencies but not yet involving the rest of the MESS, the current organizatin traces its founding to this date. Initially the agency focused on coordinating observtions from telescopes operated on Messamerica and the Old Continent as well as remote stations in the Pacific. The objective was to use the small variants due to the slow progression of Nova Terra in its orbit over the course of several days to better map the galactic environs. Over the course of the 1980s most of the remaining member states of the MESS joined and the agency was formally christened as the MESS Space Agency in 1989. A few years later the Old Dominion would request assistance in settng up an agency of its own thus forming the first daughter agency to hold the MSA title as a part of its formal designation. The push into manned exploration of space was formally announced as agoal in 1995 when the first grants for rocket development were issued. Dyna Soar Program In early 2008 MSA-Dominion would be the first program operator to launch a MESS citizen into stable orbit as part of its Dyna-Soar program. The vehicle itself was designed as an extremely low earth orbit vehicle that woudl mostly be viable on short sub-orbital trips. Using its highlyaerodynamic shape it would be able to use minimal propellant, compared against a standard launch and return profile, to orbit a crew and return them. The program itself would eventually be folded into military ventures after the DS-8 mission the 4th and last manned flight of the X-20 series. Currently future generations of the Dyna Soar continue to fly under the aegis of the Old Dominion Armed Forces. Pegasus, Daedalus and the Moon Race The Pegasus and Daedalus programs were the MSAs push towards the goal of landing the first person on the moon. Spurred on by the stated goal of the FASTA organizations advances in manned launches and the intention of reaching Selene first the MSA began accelerating rocket development and astronaut training. The Pegasus missions would be the first to see multiple orbit and multiple crew-member manned missions on the part of the MSA though both such milestones occured after FASTA. Over the course of 10 missions the program woudl establish the basics of maneuver in orbit, extra vechiluar movement and rendevous in orbit. The more aggresive Daedalus program was the name for the MSA's mission to Selene. Riding atop the most powerful booster available on Nova Terra, the Jupiter 234, astroanuts in groups of 4 and then 6 performed a seris of tests to establish the ability to manuever to lunar orbit and to both descend and ascend from the surface. Eventually on 21 March 2016 the Daedalus 9 mission touched down on the surface of Selene with the first humans to ever walk on the surfae of a non-terrestial body. The Future Theseus Icarus Organization MSA Leadership The MSA is headed by a director chosen by a plurality vote of the agency's board of directors, one director serving for each daughter agency. The Director in turn is responsible for all projects under the authority of the MSA and for co-ordinating with projects being run solely by the various daughter agencies. Under the Director are the Manned Spaceflight, Unmanned Spaceflight, Resources, Research and Development, and Personnel Divisions. Daughter Agencies The MSA is itself composed of and co-ordinated with several daughter agencies. Almost all MESS member nations maintain a complete cabinet level space agency which must co-ordinate with, but does not have to report to, the MSA. This includes: * Royal Space Agency, Wilkonia * MSA-Dominion, The Old Dominion * Canissian Royal Space Agency, Canissia * Shinra Space Services, Shinra Republic * Tian Xia Launch Authority, Tian Xia Associated Agencies While the MSA is primarily driven by its member agencies who have seats on the board of directors and are required to fund a percentage of all operations there have been, and are still, several associated agencies. These national space programs have not committed to garunteed funding and thus do not hold seats on the board of directors hwoever by agreement astronauts train in the MSA program and are actively involved in all MSA operations: * Union Space Exploration Department, Pacific Union * Crossroads Aerospace Directorate Crossroadia Category:MSA